scholarly journals Promoting healthy foods among urban school children in Bangladesh: a qualitative inquiry of the challenges and opportunities

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Rumayan Hasan ◽  
George Smith ◽  
Md Harunor Rashid ◽  
Mohammad Abdus Selim ◽  
Sabrina Rasheed
Keyword(s):  
School Children ◽  
Food System ◽  
Vegetable Consumption ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Urban School ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Food Culture ◽  
Healthy Foods ◽  
Raw Foods

Abstract Background In Bangladesh overweight and obesity among urban school children are on the rise. Urban school children tend to consume foods dense in calories and few fruits and vegetables which is associated with overweight and obesity. The current study explored the barriers and opportunities for promoting healthy diets among school children from the perspective of teachers and parents in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methods We conducted 14 key informant interviews with teachers and principals, six focus group discussions with 31 mothers of school children (5 to 15 year old) and 14 structured observations of the school food environment. Inductive thematic analysis was performed manually. Results Schools were important for development of food preferences of children, however, most school cafeterias provided foods based on profit rather than health considerations. A shift in food culture resulted in making eating out acquire many meanings beyond convenience. Mothers, especially those who were employed, struggled to prepare healthy foods due to time pressure. Mothers were generally concerned about chemicals added to raw foods in markets which led to limited fruit and vegetable consumption. Conclusions There were many challenges to promoting healthy foods to school children within and outside the school. It is important to formulate policies and guidance to create a supportive environment for healthy foods in and in the proximity of schools. It is also important to educate consumers about identifying and choosing healthy foods. Laws related to food safety should be adequately implemented to boost the population’s confidence in safety of available healthy foods in the food system.

scholarly journals Promoting healthy foods among urban school children in Bangladesh: A qualitative inquiry of the challenges and opportunities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A M Rumayan Hasan ◽  
George Smith ◽  
Md Harunor Rashid ◽  
Mohammad Abdus Selim ◽  
Sabrina Rasheed
Keyword(s):  
School Children ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Food System ◽  
Vegetable Consumption ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Qualitative Inquiry ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Food Culture ◽  
Healthy Foods ◽  
Raw Foods

Abstract Background Food habits are directly associated with overweight and obesity in adolescence and adulthood. Urban Bangladeshi school children tend to consume foods dense in calories and few fruits and vegetables. The current study explored the barriers and opportunities for promoting healthy diets in households and schools from the perspective of teachers and parents in urban Bangladesh.Methods We conducted 14 key informant interviews with school teachers and 6 focus group interviews with mothers of school children. We used inductive thematic analysis manually.Results Schools were important for development of food preferences, however, most school cafeterias provided foods based on profit rather than health considerations. Mothers were generally concerned about chemicals added to raw foods in markets which led to limited fruit and vegetable consumption. Mothers, especially those who were employed, struggled to have time to prepare healthy foods for their children. Foods prepared outside home have acquired many meanings beyond convenience.Conclusions There were social, cultural, and environmental challenges to promoting healthy foods to children. It is important to formulate policies and guidance to create a supportive environment for healthy foods in schools. As processed foods and foods prepared outside the home have become an important part of the urban food culture, it is also important to develop and implement strict regulations and guidelines for production, processing, and distribution. It is also important to educate consumers about identifying and choosing healthy foods. Implementing existing laws related to food safety should also boost the population’s confidence in the food system.

scholarly journals Healthy eating: a matter of prioritisation by households or policymakers?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Joreintje Dingena Mackenbach
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Fruits And Vegetables ◽  
Food System ◽  
Vegetable Consumption ◽  
Fruit And Vegetable Consumption ◽  
Healthy Foods ◽  
Fruit And Vegetable ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Abstract I reflect upon the potential reasons why American low-income households do not spend an optimal proportion of their food budgets on fruits and vegetables, even though this would allow them to meet the recommended levels of fruit and vegetable consumption. Other priorities than health, automatic decision-making processes and access to healthy foods play a role, but solutions for the persistent socio-economic inequalities in diet should be sought in the wider food system which promotes cheap, mass-produced foods. I argue that, ultimately, healthy eating is not a matter of prioritisation by individual households but by policymakers.

scholarly journals Prevalence of sustained hypertension and obesity among urban and rural adolescents: a school-based, cross-sectional study in North India

BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. e027134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bishav Mohan ◽  
Amit Verma ◽  
Kavita Singh ◽  
Kalpana Singh ◽  
Sarit Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
School Children ◽  
Urban School ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Secondary Outcome ◽  
Rural Adolescents ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
School Based ◽  
Sustained Hypertension ◽  
Rural And Urban

ObjectiveRecent data on sustained hypertension and obesity among school-going children and adolescents in India are limited. This study evaluates the prevalence of sustained hypertension and obesity and their risk factors among urban and rural adolescents in northern India.SettingA school-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted in the urban and rural areas of Ludhiana, Punjab, India using standardised measurement tools.ParticipantsA total of 1959 participants aged 11–17 years (urban: 849; rural: 1110) were included in this school-based survey.Primary and secondary outcome measuresTo measure sustained hypertension among school children, two distinct blood pressure (BP) measurements were recorded at an interval of 1 week. High BP was defined and classified into three groups as recommended by international guidelines: (1) normal BP: <90th percentile compared with age, sex and height percentile in each age group; (2) prehypertension: BP=90th–95th percentile; and (3) hypertension: BP >95th percentile. The Indian Academy of Pediatrics classification was used to define underweight, normal, overweight and obesity as per the body mass index (BMI) for specific age groups.ResultsThe prevalence of sustained hypertension among rural and urban areas was 5.7% and 8.4%, respectively. The prevalence of obesity in rural and urban school children was 2.7% and 11.0%, respectively. The adjusted multiple regression model found that urban area (relative risk ratio (RRR): 1.7, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.93), hypertension (RRR: 7.4, 95% CI 4.21 to 13.16) and high socioeconomic status (RRR: 38.6, 95% CI 16.54 to 90.22) were significantly associated with an increased risk of obesity. However, self-reported regular physical activity had a protective effect on the risk of obesity among adolescents (RRR: 0.4, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.62). Adolescents who were overweight (RRR: 2.66, 95% CI 1.49 to 4.40) or obese (RRR: 7.21, 95% CI 4.09 to 12.70) and reported added salt intake in their diet (RRR: 4.90, 95% CI 2.83 to 8.48) were at higher risk of hypertension.ConclusionHigh prevalence of sustained hypertension and obesity was found among urban school children and adolescents in a northern state in India. Hypertension among adolescents was positively associated with overweight and obesity (high BMI). Prevention and early detection of childhood obesity and high BP should be strengthened to prevent the risk of cardiovascular diseases in adults.

scholarly journals Incidental exposure to hedonic and healthy food features affects food preferences one day later

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Léo Dutriaux ◽  
Esther K. Papies ◽  
Jennifer Fallon ◽  
Leonel Garcia-Marques ◽  
Lawrence W. Barsalou
Keyword(s):  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
General Effect ◽  
Healthy Foods ◽  
Unhealthy Eating ◽  
Affective Processes ◽  
Incidental Exposure ◽  
High Bmi

AbstractMemories acquired incidentally from exposure to food information in the environment may often become active to later affect food preferences. Because conscious use of these memories is not requested or required, these incidental learning effects constitute a form of indirect memory. In an experiment using a novel food preference paradigm (n = 617), we found that brief incidental exposure to hedonic versus healthy food features indirectly affected food preferences a day later, explaining approximately 10% of the variance in preferences for tasty versus healthy foods. It follows that brief incidental exposure to food information can affect food preferences indirectly for at least a day. When hedonic and health exposure were each compared to a no-exposure baseline, a general effect of hedonic exposure emerged across individuals, whereas health exposure only affected food preferences for high-BMI individuals. This pattern suggests that focusing attention on hedonic food features engages common affective processes across the general population, whereas focusing attention on healthy food features engages eating restraint goals associated with high BMI. Additionally, incidental exposure to food features primarily changed preferences for infrequently consumed foods, having less impact on habitually consumed foods. These findings offer insight into how hedonic information in the obesogenic food environment contributes to unhealthy eating behavior that leads to overweight and obesity. These findings further motivate the development of interventions that counteract the effects of exposure to hedonic food information and that broaden the effects of exposure to healthy food information.

scholarly journals Impact Indicators for Community Garden Programs: Using Delphi Methods to Inform Program Development and Evaluation

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 852-859
Author(s):  
John Diaz ◽  
Susan Webb ◽  
Laura Warner ◽  
Paul Monoghan
Keyword(s):  
Program Development ◽  
Food System ◽  
Vegetable Consumption ◽  
Community Gardens ◽  
Community Garden ◽  
Healthy Foods ◽  
Long Term Outcomes ◽  
Program Outcomes ◽  
Delphi Approach

With growing interest in food system solutions to address poor health outcomes related to preventable chronic diseases, organizations and researchers are examining the value of community gardens as interventions to promote individual and community health. Research suggests that participation in community gardens improves access to fresh, healthy foods and increases fruit and vegetable consumption. In addition to these physical benefits, research also documents a variety of social and communal benefits, by expanding social capital, stabilizing neighborhoods, and cultivating relationships. Unfortunately, most of these studies focus on a specific case, cross case, or intervention studies within a geographically specific locale. Learning lessons from successful community garden programs can be difficult because community gardens often rely on the synergy of a complex network of support agencies that assist in various technical and educational capacities. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate the use of a framework for program development and evaluation that stakeholders, including extension, can adopt to show program outcomes. The framework used a Delphi approach with a diverse panel of community garden stakeholders to reach consensus about program outcomes. The study demonstrated that the panel could reach consensus on a variety of short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes.

Prevalence and risk factors of overweight and obesity among urban school children in Elazig city, Eastern Turkey, 2007

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edibe Pirinçci ◽  
Birsen Durmuş ◽  
Cemal Gündoğdu ◽  
Yasemin Açik
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
School Children ◽  
Urban School ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Eastern Turkey

scholarly journals A study of adolescent obesity and hypertension in urban school in Mumbai

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anita D. Patil ◽  
Sonali Shejul ◽  
Prashant Bhandarkar ◽  
Ashok Kattimani ◽  
Ansari Mudassir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Pressure ◽  
School Children ◽  
Blood Pressure Measurement ◽  
Strong Association ◽  
Indian Academy ◽  
Urban School ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Hypertensive Disorder ◽  
Low Middle Income Countries ◽  
Significant Difference

Background: Obesity and high blood pressure is increasingly prevalent, not only in adults but also in children. Initially thought to be disease of high income countries (HIC), this disease is now increasing across low middle income countries (LMIC). This study aims to estimate the prevalence of obesity and hypertension among urban school children in Mumbai.Methods: Guidelines of Indian Academy of Pediatrics were used to calculate BMI Z Score and identify the overweight and obese adolescents. Children from the age group of 9 to 15 years were selected from schools in Mumbai. Standard guidelines of blood pressure measurement using Sex height specific blood pressure percentile charts were used. Normotensive, pre-hypertensive and hypertensive adolescents were recognized. Associations among both groups were checked using chi-square test of significance and gender wise differences were studied.Results: Among 1486 adolescents studied prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be 20.18% and 16.01% respectively. While the prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension was found to be 7.5% and 5.4% respectively. Gender wise significant difference was found; boys had blood pressure slightly higher than that of girls.Conclusions: Study documents scenario of increasing obesity and hypertension among urban school children of India. Strong association exists between both obese/ overweight and hypertensive disorder.

Macho Nachos

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 182-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke (Lei) Zhu ◽  
Victoria L. Brescoll ◽  
George E. Newman ◽  
Eric Luis Uhlmann
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Food Packaging ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Healthy Food ◽  
Psychological Reactance ◽  
Unhealthy Food ◽  
Healthy Foods ◽  
Gender Schema ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Schema Congruity

Abstract. The present studies examine how culturally held stereotypes about gender (that women eat more healthfully than men) implicitly influence food preferences. In Study 1, priming masculinity led both male and female participants to prefer unhealthy foods, while priming femininity led both male and female participants to prefer healthy foods. Study 2 extended these effects to gendered food packaging. When the packaging and healthiness of the food were gender schema congruent (i.e., feminine packaging for a healthy food, masculine packaging for an unhealthy food) both male and female participants rated the product as more attractive, said that they would be more likely to purchase it, and even rated it as tasting better compared to when the product was stereotype incongruent. In Study 3, packaging that explicitly appealed to gender stereotypes (“The muffin for real men”) reversed the schema congruity effect, but only among participants who scored high in psychological reactance.

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